Jesus, Light of the World

Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, "I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life" .. "As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world" .. "I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness." (Jn 8:12, 9:5, 12:46; cf. Is 42:6; Mal 4:2; Jn 1, 4, 9; Ac 26:18)

Rebirth in the Lord Jesus Christ blesses sinners with the indwelling presence of the Holy Ghost who tabernacles within men not temples of stone (1 Cor 3:16,17, 6:19; 2 Cor 6:16; Re 3:20). "And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost" (Ac 13:52).

Forgiveness, eternal life, peace, and unspeakable joy (Mt 5:12, 41; Jn 16:22; Ac 14:1; 1 Th 1:6) is available to sinners who repent (turn from) sin and believe upon (turn to, trust in) the Lamb of God, who took the full weight of sin upon Himself at Calvary, saying: "It is Finished!"; "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do"; And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost." (Jn 19:30; Lk 23:34, 46; cf. Is 53:12; Mt 5:44)

The imputed righteousness of Christ converts sinners to saints granting the privilege to be called sons of God. Love motivates the proclamation of the narrow path to unregenerate souls headed for an eternity in hell as we once were. "Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." (2 Co 5:20-21)

Mankind's fall in the Garden of Eden utterly devastated the spiritual condition of all future generations (Gen 3), but God the Father sent God the Son to live sinless, die for crimes He did not commit, resurrect, and ascend to the right hand of the Majesty on High (Ac 7:55-56; Heb 1:3, 8:1). Whatever "ism" seeks to deny such immutable truth is a lie.

Allah is a Pagan Idol. Sorry Rick Warren! By Ed Decker

When Rick Warren recently joined with the Pope [Warren referred to him as, Our Pope] in announcing that Allah a was just another name for the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and us, I knew that I would have to say something about it.

First, they are in abhorrent error. Secondly, they are leading a whole lot of people into believing a terribly false teaching. At best it is some perverted form of ecumenical foolishness.

Third, they have fallen for the glib lies of religious/political schemers dedicated to the conversion or destruction of every Jew and Christian on earth, not to leave out the Buddhists, Hindus and atheists standing on the sidelines. Let me put a little background to this.

The culture of Mohammed’s world was very animistic. Every Arab tribe had its sacred magic stone(s) that they believed protected the tribe, resident in the Kaaba. All the nomadic tribes had their own tribal deities.

The dominant religion just prior to Mohammed was Sabianism, a religion in which heavenly bodies were worshipped. The moon was viewed as a male deity, and they used a lunar calendar. Their pagan rite of fasting began with the appearance of the crescent moon. Fasting was later adopted as one of the five pillars of faith of Islam. Fasting, based on the lunar calendar, in the ninth month of Ramadan already pre-existed in the Arab culture before Mohammed was even born.

When Mohammed was born in Mecca in 570 AD, the black Kaaba was the religious center of all Arabia. In Mohammed’s day, approximately 360 tribal idols were worshipped there in that great courtyard. One of those deities or Allahs was the god of the Quarish tribe, of which Mohammed was a member. When the Quarish tribe took control of Mecca, all the idols except Allah, the idol of their tribe, were destroyed.

The Koran tells us that Mohammed drove the other idols away; his idol was now the only god and he was its messenger. But he kept the Kaaba as a holy, sacred place. He obligated every believer to make a pilgrimage to the stone at least once in his lifetime. (Sura 22:26-37)

This Muslim Allah is a stone, a small to medium black crescent meteor rock. Hence the depictions of the crescent moon on most if not all Muslim nations’ flags and the literature of the Muslim faith. It represents this Moon Deity, now commonly called Allah.

Mohammed’s magical black stone was kissed in those early days, when people came on their pilgrimages and worshipped at the Kaaba. It was probably an asteroid or a meteorite, a moonstone, which they viewed as being divine.

A meteorite is a piece of iron, stone, or stony-iron composite that has fallen to Earth from outer space. Most meteorites originated within the Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter, and were once part of a planet or large asteroid. A few meteorites come from the Moon and Mars, and a few others may possibly be fragments of comets.It certainly does not represent the God who created the moon, mars and the asteroid belt from which this Allah rock originated.

The central prayer or declaration of Islam, to this day, is: There is no God but [this] Allah and Mohammed is his prophet.”

In that declaration, This Moon deity, Allah, is raised up above and apart from the Biblical God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. There is no confusion on their part. Let’s look at their declaration of faith. The Five Pillars of the Muslim faith include,

Affirmation: “There is no God but Allah and Mohammed is his messenger” which is recited constantly by devout Muslims.

The Fast: Faithful Muslims fast from dawn to dusk every day during the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, Ramadan, which is sacred.

Almsgiving: A worthy Muslim must give 2.5% of his income to the poor.

Prayer: Muslims are required to pray five times a day, kneeling and facing Mecca.

The Pilgrimage: Muslims are expected to journey to Mecca at least once in their lifetime.

Let’s look at these items a bit more closely and from the Biblical perspective. Muslims must kneel on their prayer rug five times a day.

They must bow down and face Mecca, where this idol, Allah is kept in its sacred abode. They must pray and recite the required affirmation that there is no god but Allah and Mohammed is his messenger.

Every year, Mecca continues to be filled with masses of pilgrims who parade around the Kaaba, bowing down and worshipping Allah. They know their idol is there in that sacred black box. Some sell all they own just to fulfill that last requirement of the Fifth pillar of their faith. This is an extremely tangible look at the complete separation of that religion from any other form of faith.

In a further look at the complete separation of Islam from any Biblical kinship, it is basic Islamic ideology that the world is divided into two: The Islamic “Dar e-Salaam” or House of Islam or House of Peace. Opposing this “Dar e-Salaam” is the “Dar e-Harb” or House of War into which all infidels fall.

There can be no peace for Islam until the entire “Dar e-Harb” falls to the “Dar e-Salaam”. So this is a fight to the finish. Islam must be victorious or be vanquished. There can be no effective defense against Islam or any effective Christian outreach to its people until we understand this volatile religious challenger of our faith and our way of life.

In the Bible, Moses was given the Ten Commandments directly from God. Ten critical things were listed. The first two clearly defined who and what we were to worship, to bow down to, to honor as our God.

Exodus 20 And God spake all these words, saying, 2 I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

Verses Three through five clearly condemn Islam as a false religion, and certainly no kin or cousin to the Jew or Christian. Muslims continue to have the iniquities of their fathers visited upon them to this day.

It is my belief that the Rick Warrens and Popes of this day will bear the terrible wrath of a jealous God and this compromise of the gospel will wreak havoc across the nations.

I posted an article recently that talked of our government bringing about 75,000 Muslims to the United States from Syria. Several responded and said, “wonderful. It will bring them here where we can lead them to Jesus.”

My response was, “How many have you led to the Lord that are already here? Based on the numbers, extremely few and there are probably several thousand within that number who are jihadists, hundreds who are terrorists.

Truth is, the Muslims in the USA are about the least assimilated people group ever to come to the United States. They live within their own an within their own laws. They defy assimilation.

Yet, while the government seeks out every vestige of Christianity on the public scene and write laws to punish Christians for any sign of living their faith in business or charity, the same government bows to every whim and religious practice of the Muslims amongst us. I need not give you a list. It grows every day. Just check the morning news.

Christian friends and pastors. Do not fall prey to this terrible deception. Preach the error of it, speak against its battle to the death of our faith and be bold. Never compromise. In that day when the He separates the sheep and the goats, be among the true believers.

Chick tracts have some really great tracts for the person who believes in Islam.They are proven to either open the eyes of Muslims,to the true Gospel of Jesus Christ or they offend greatly.Either way,we,as Christians,are Christ bearers and unless we spread the true Gospel,Islam will increase.I wonder….perhaps it’s God’s own, who are under judgement now for not obeying God.”He said,”Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to all creation.”[Mark 16:15].What we are seeing here in America,is a direct judgement for parents turning their responsibility over to teachers and youth group leaders.It starts within our homes as our children are our FIRST people to share the Gospel with.

Reblogged this on A Common Life and commented:
As I near the end of the amazing biography of George Whitefield, and read this post, it helps me see afresh the need to boldly proclaim the simple, life changing truth of the Gospel message. It can feel that the world is worse than in the 1700’s, but people have always been people, and always will be. We seek out idols or easy believe-ism, we find ways to pervert the need for a transformed life given to the Saviors service, but nothing is different from how we go from being lost and hell-bound to forgiven and heaven bound. Oh! For hearts and souls to be melted as in the days of the First Great Awakening by strong voices tirelessly delivering the message of reconciliation to God through faith alone. Lord, give your sheep a clear ministry that doesn’t think community saves OR keeps, but which recognizes understanding it is God who keeps us as we live as those with a debt of gratitude. The narrow gate has not room for throngs to go through with us. We must go through alone with our eyes fixed on Christ, seated at the right hand of the Father. ~Ann

Merry Christmas to you, too! BTW, I saw your Linked In request, but I don’t actually do anything with it. I’m not sure how to get rid of whatever I’ve got going on there, and the email I used to sign up was an old gmail that I don’t have anymore…ah, I’m a disaster with that. Just wouldn’t want you to think I didn’t want to connect. People ask me from time to time but it’s just my hubby who has that since he is in the career world. Anyway, I hope you have a terrific New Year, friend.

Published by ezekielcountdown

Committed to helping others discover the Lord Jesus Christ, revealed throughout both OT and NT. All saints are called to be Ambassadors of the gospel, may my labor herein result in God drawing others unto His Son that such may rejoice in the forgiveness, liberty, and peace granted by the Good Shepherd. Applied study of scripture blossoms into maturity, spiritual discernment, and replication of ourselves that new disciples go forth and proclaim the Good News!
EZC shall challenge any ministers of Satan whose purpose is to attack the infallibility of Holy Writ querying, "Hath God truly said?" hoping to ensnare the immature. We must remain focused on whom the enemy is - wicked spiritual principalities sowing seeds of deception - our enemy is NOT the lost but the spirit behind their false ideologies and isms. Study the Bible praying God the Holy Spirit equip and teach you, for He has promised to do so (Jhn 16:13). Beloved brethren, until united in glory, Sola Deo Gloria!
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